We are delighted to request the honor and joy of your participation in our upcoming collective project: Cross Pollination – a mobile show and tell tour! We are extending this heartful invitation to you to work with us. We are specifically looking for:

• People who’d like travel with us in the zine mobile (see description below) for a spell, or caravan with us on your own wheels while offering your art/wisdom/skills.

• People stationed in their own communities to offer art/wisdom/skills.

• People who would like to organize a gathering/event in your community.

• People who can offer couch/floor space for us/our tourmates to sleep

• People excited to toss us some virtual sparkles through the cosmos as we cruise on our way and hi-five us once we land.

(We are interested in working with people of all backgrounds and ages, including kids!)

On whatever level you can participate, we’re thrilled to have (and depend on) your involvement in ways that are meaningful and exciting to you!

While our exact route isn’t planned, we know this much: We’ll depart southern California in the Fly Away Zine Mobile in the last week of June and head north through California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and then push east possibly through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota ending in Nebraska in early August.

Part of the beauty of this loosely sketched (and open to interpretation) route is that your replies of desire to participate will help determine our destinations/route. If we haven’t named your state in this list, it doesn’t mean it’s off the table; it’s just a possibility we hadn’t yet considered.

Below, you’ll find our vision statement and descriptions of who we are (in case you don’t already know) to help you get a more clear idea of our vision and intentions. If you find yourself getting more excited as you read on, write us! Let us know how you’d like to be involved!

We’re so looking forward to hearing from you!

In anticipation, with love and gratitude,

franciszka, debbie, and the fly away zine mobile

Cross-Pollination Mobile Show and Tell Vision Statement

We believe that we are all rockstars. We believe that every human/creature in the universe possesses a unique collection of skills, wisdoms, stories, experiences and artistic expressions that inspire and teach others when shared. Cross Pollination is a tour that aims to collaborate with communities along the way to create events that make space for this kind of sharing.

Our intention is not to bring something to our destinations that they presumably lack. Instead, we seek to honor and support the people and spaces we visit by tailoring each stop to the desires of the individuals and communities organizing with us. (What is each community excited to share? What do participants want to hear, see or know more about?) We envision these collaboratory events taking the form of any (combination) of the following: variety shows, discussion circles, celebrations/rituals, dance parties, workshops, art salons, performances, skillshares, etc. The possibilities are open and infinite.

We’re open to traveling wherever we are wanted. We’re especially interested in places that aren’t typically on the tour circuit: intentional communities, land projects, small towns and rural areas. We seek a variety of wheelchair-accessible venues: houses, community centers, info shops, book stores, senior centers, parks, libraries, farms. We’ll also be making spontaneous stops at rest areas and other public outdoor spaces along the way.

We want to meet you. We want to collaborate with you. We want to exchange wisdoms with you. We want to experience your art and share ours with you. We want to carry your ideas with us into our work and our destinations and leave some of ours to bloom with you.

*we are committed to making each event as accessible for as many people as possible (including but not limited to: wheelchair-accessible spaces and providing ASL [and other] interpretation)

The Cross Pollination (mobile show and tell) tour is you and:

franciszka voeltz (aka: frantelope. frankie. franny pack): i am a poet in recovery (for the summer) from grad school. i have a bright orange cursive typewriter and i once lived in a treehouse named the jolly roger. i just wrote a poem to the entire universe which i am bringing on this tour to share with you. i have recently transitioned from leading writing workshops in prisons and community centers in the portland, oregon area to teaching undergrads at uc-san diego. i write what some call documentary poetry which is a genre i believe to be largely about holding the white supremacist colonialist heteropatriarchy responsible for its actions while also honoring/not allowing ourselves to forget our dead. (see blog here). i have otherwise been known as an: anchor, collector, magician, seer, homebody/adventurer, firecracker/lullabye, lion/mouse, open-heart surgeon in a sequin mask. i have been waiting my entire life to meet you.

debbie rasmussen (aka: weed. smoosh. fawngonemad.): i am a cultural worker, media maker, traveling street librarian, and facilitator/supporter for people and projects looking to evolve from hierarchical structures to cooperative, collective ones. i am also a lifelong learner. i’ve spent much of the past three years in solitude or in companionship with other-than-human animals, seeking ways to reconnect the many parts of myself that split off in an attempt to survive. during this time, my self-expression has evolved from primarily writing to creating mostly wordless music/soundscapes and videos intended as quiet(er) meditations or pauses — using accordion, ukulele, flute, vocals, jars of dried beans, looping and echo pedals, birdsounds, and other sounds around me. i’ve also been known as: a multi-spirited freak of nature, a bitch, a witch, a harmonizer, a bridge. i loved show and tell when i was wee, and am incredibly excited to collaborate with you!

And we will be touring in:

fly away zine mobile: i am a free zine lending library, DIY/self-publishing skill-sharer, and mini reading room traveling across North America. I organize/support events focused on literacy and self-publishing, host open library/reading hours, visit people unable to leave where they are, and co-organize adventures like this. i’m the first piece of an emerging traveling caravan that seeks to support and create free skill-sharing and community-building (and since i generally drive at cruising speed or slower, i aspire to be the caboose). i’m also a sibling to the Zine Apothecary, a garage-based zine library in Minneapolis. I’ve otherwise been known as: emergency library and typewriter lender, zine pusher, a former mobile branch of the decolonize/occupy oakland library, zine van, fly away library. i thrive on love, music, and zines; i have a small collection of musical instruments for lending and also a free box! Do you want to travel in/with the zine mobile? Get in touch — zinemobile(at)gmail(dot)com.